In an almost reminiscent way, a young Liverpool-born midfielder is making a name for himself at Liverpool Football Club. Jack Dunn, born 19th November 1994 has earned rave reviews for his repertoire of passing and has featured for England at youth level. He has also captained the U18s throughout the 2011/12 season but he has struggled with fitness and injuries.

Jack Dunn had climbed through the ranks of the Liverpool Academy, making his début for the U18s in the 2010/11 season, throughout the season he also function as captain of the U16s. The following season he was promoted up to a full-time member of the U18s squad. This is something that he didn’t take lightly as he took the responsibility by storm. He tallied a very impressive number of goals from his midfield position, these goals included both of the team’s goals in a 2-1 victory of Manchester United. His first goal was scored in the first minute of the match and his second goal came in injury time. By the end of the season he had scored eight goals from twenty appearances for the side, this made him the U18’s third top goal scorer.

Dunn tends to take up strong positions along the left and right-hand sides of the midfield, finding pockets of space to move into and receive the ball. He can be the key that unlocks defences, he has an experience of adjusting to other positions too; he has played as a right winger, a centre forward and even as a left back on the occasion! In these positions he maintained his composure and fulfilled what he was required of.

Unfortunately, the 2011/12 season saw him side-lined a lot of the time as he endured a series of injuries thus restricting him to just a few appearances, most of which came towards the end of the year. This didn’t harm him though as he just picked up the pieces where he left them, he played an outstanding game against Swindon in FA Youth Cup, where he scored a brace.

You can watch his first goal in that game here

and you can watch his second goal here

Thankfully, there will be many chances for him to make up over lost playing time. Watching him play, from a Liverpool fan’s point-of-view, you can see a lot of his idol, Steven Gerrard in the way he plays. He constantly is looking for a path to threat through a killer pass to unlock the opposition’s defences. He also carries that die-hard mentality and the desire to smash the ball into the back of the net from 20-30 yards.

Through watching various games over the years, it’s clear that Dunn has a particular cliché of a move. The red dot [above] represents a very typical position you’d find Dunn in, from this position he often will shift to his left so he can then unleash a shot with his favoured left foot. From this position he has also be known to slide the ball beyond the defence for one of his team-mates to smash into the back of the net.

[Source: thefa.com]

Jack Dunn has also had a fairly positive run with the England’s U19s and U18s which shouldn’t go unnoticed. Not losing in any of the three games his has played.

Here’s a few words Liverpool legend John Aldridge had to say about Dunn after 2-1 win victory over Wolves U21s:

“He was excellent again tonight, he’s got a great chance of breaking through [into the first team] in time”.

U21 boss Alex Inglethrope has also previously heaped praise on the youngster, he told LFC.com:

“That was probably the most pleased I’ve been with the team’s performance since I’ve been here. We all know Jack can score goals – it’s something he has shown throughout all the age groups”.

If there was ever a player that was tailor-made to step into Steven Gerrard’s boots when he has to hang them up, it may very well be Jack Dunn. I’d suggest noting down his name, the lad has a bright future ahead of him.